


Pinky Promise

by blacktithe



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:21:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22140244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blacktithe/pseuds/blacktithe
Summary: Bucky and Y/N have been in each other’s lives for almost as long as they can remember. They have always been close. The bond they share only rivaled by Bucky’s friendship with Steve. But their relationship is different. Things between them are changing. Will they be able to express how they feel? Or will time rob them of the opportunity?
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader
Comments: 8
Kudos: 39





	Pinky Promise

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for Star Spangled Bingo 2020 on Tumblr. The prompt was "mutual Pinning."
> 
> This was beta'd by my friend Kari.

There wasn’t anything special about the little diner Bucky insisted on dragging Steve to every Friday night. It was just another greasy spoon. The food was sub-par, and the jukebox in the corner played the same four songs over and over again. But that wasn’t why he came. He came to see the waitress that was currently filling his water glass.

“Hey, Y/N,” he said, “Stevie and I are gonna head to the movies. You wanna go with us?”

The smile Y/N gave him turned his insides to butter. 

He’d know Y/N almost as long as he’d known Steve. Her family had moved into the apartment beside Steve’s when they were ten. She’d been sitting on the steps by herself one day when they decided to invite her along for whatever it was they were doing that day. The three of them had been inseparable ever since.

“I don’t get off work for another half hour, Bucky.” She refilled Steve’s glass as well. “You know that.”

“Show’s not ‘til after that. What’d ya say?”

Bucky sent her his most charming smile. She pulled her lower lip between her teeth, and for a moment, he thought she was going to say no. Then he saw the corner of her mouth start to curve upward.

“Split a tub of popcorn with me?” she asked.

“Only if there is extra butter.”

Without saying a word, Y/N sat her pitcher of water down on their table and extended her hand towards Bucky with the pinky finger raised. He gave a small chuckle at the familiar gesture before hooking his pinky with hers.

“Miss?”

Y/N turned towards the sound and saw another patron signaling for her. “I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll see you two in a bit.” 

Bucky couldn’t help but think about how beautiful she looked as she walked away. Even the hideous mustard yellow uniform she had to wear couldn’t make her any less beautiful in his eyes. Then again, he would have found her beautiful in nothing but a flour sack.

“You know,” Steve’s voice pulled Bucky’s attention away from Y/N’s retreating figure, “if you stare at her any harder you’ll put a hole in her back.”

Bucky looked down at his plate to hid his blush and shoved a fry into his mouth. Of course Steve would have noticed the way Bucky kept looking at her. Steve always noticed. 

Bucky wasn’t exactly sure when it had happened, but somewhere along the way, he’d started seeing Y/N as something more than the girl he had always know. Somewhere along the way, she transformed into the girl he had always wanted.

“Why don’t you just tell her how you feel, Buck?”

Bucky swallowed and kept his eyes down. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

He clenched his jaw. He wanted to tell her. God knows he did. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not with the future he had in front of him. “She deserves better,” he said simply. 

Bucky convinced himself that it was true. What could he offer her? Someone as amazing as Y/N deserved the moon. He’d be lucky if he could find a way to keep a roof over their heads once they were out of school.

“Don’t you think she ought to have a say in that Buck?”

His eyes drifted over to Y/N on the far side of the diner. She caught his eye and gave him a sweet smile that he did his best to return before turning his attention back to Steve.

“Someday,” he said. “Once I get a few things figured out. Then I’ll tell her.”

Bucky’s chest felt like it was being held in a vice. He’d been dreading this moment for weeks. He didn’t regret signing up. Not for a minute, but the thought of telling Y/N, that was what had given him pause.

The record player in the corner of her family’s sitting room wasn’t enough to drown out the sound of her gentle sobs, each one tearing at Bucky’s heart like the edge of a knife. Telling Steve had been bad enough, but this, this was something that would pain him for the rest of his life.

“Please don’t go,” she begged as she clung to his chest. “I can’t, I can’t lose you too.”

Bucky wrapped his arms tighter around her and held her close to his chest as she cried. He couldn’t blame her for being afraid. He’d been there the week before when the message had come that her brother had been killed in action. He’d watched in silence as the color drained from her face, and all the joy leaked from her eyes. At one point, she looked as if she would faint, but Bucky’s strong presence behind her had held her upright. Now he was watching her crumble all over again. Only this time, he couldn’t stop it.

“You’re not gonna lose me, doll,” he whispered. She only fisted her hands in his shirt all the more and began shaking her head. “I’m coming back.”

“You don’t know that,” she sobbed.

Y/N pulled back enough to look Bucky in his eyes. The tears he saw streaming down her face nearly brought him to his knees. He’d never seen her look so broken. So desperate. He could feel tears forming in his own eyes, but he held them at bay for her. He had to be strong. For her.

**“I promise,” he said, holding up the pinky of his right hand. She looked at his hand briefly before gazing back up at him. “Have I ever broken a promise?”**

**“No.”**

**The word was barely above a whisper, but he heard it. She looped her finger with his before p** ulling their joined hands against her chest.

“You have to promise me you’ll come back. No matter what. Promise me you’re going to make it.”

Bucky placed his free hand on the side of her face. “I promise.”

His eyes darted from her sparkling gaze to her lips, his thumb running gently along her cheek. He wanted to kiss her. God, he wanted it more than anything in the world, but he couldn’t do that to her. Not now. Not when she was so vulnerable. He couldn’t let their first kiss to be out of fear and desperation. No. He wanted it to be perfect. He wanted to take her out on the town. Dance with her until dawn and tell her how much he loved her, but that would have to wait.

Instead, Bucky pulled her tight against his chest and buried his face in her hair and promising himself that he would tell her soon.

Keeping everyone together in the teeming crowd at the expo was hard. It was like the whole of New York had turned out to see what the world of technology had to offer. The things being showcased were impressive for sure, but the only thing Y/N seemed to be able to focus on was Bucky.

He looked dashing in his officer’s uniform. She couldn’t blame Dotty for hanging all over him. Any woman would want to be on the arm of a man like him. Even Dotty’s friend that had come along as Steve’s “date” couldn’t seem to look away.

Bucky smiled down at the two young women, and Y/N’s heart sank. Every time he looked at either one of them was like a kick in the gut. This day was originally supposed to be about the three of them; Y/N, Steve, and Bucky. One last hoorah before he shipped out in the morning. Then when they had run into their old school mate, Dottie, and one of her pals on the way in, everything shifted. Now instead of being at his side, she and Steve were walking two paces behind the group, watching as the most important person in their lives slowly slipped away.

“You know the only reason you’re not up there is because you haven’t told him right?”

Y/N turned her head in Steve’s direction. “What?”

Steve gave her an incredulous look. “You honestly can’t tell me you don’t know?” She just stared at him. Steve let out a puff of laughter. He looked down at his shoes, shaking his head from side to side, before looking her dead in the eye and saying, “The only reason you aren’t the one on his arm is because you haven’t told him how you feel. He’d never look at another dame again if he thought you would be waiting for him.”

Her eyes drifted over to Bucky. He’d managed to get them a spot close to the stage where Howard Stark was just about to unveil his latest invention. Bucky turned around and started scanning the crowd for something. When his eyes met hers, the smile that lit up his face turned her insides to mush. He tilted his head in a gesture indicating that they should come up and join him before he turned his attention back to the stage for the presentation.

“You have to tell him, Y/N,” Steve said beside her. “Give him something to fight for before he’s gone.”

Gone. That word nearly killed her. She couldn’t bring herself to think about Bucky not being there. Then again. She’d said the same thing about her brother.

The officer that came to tell her family had delivered an unfinished letter to her that her brother had been holding when he’d died. He’d been in the middle of writing it when a sniper’s bullet had ripped through his heart. She couldn’t help but think that if he had been paying more attention to what was around him instead of writing to her that he would still be there. She couldn’t let the same thing happen to Bucky. Her Bucky.

“I’ll tell him when he gets home,” she said simply. Steve started to protest, but the look she gave him stopped him in his tracks. She turned her eyes back to Bucky. “I’ll tell him when he gets back. He’s going to come home like he promised, and then I tell him.”

After all, Bucky never broke his promises.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments and kudos.


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